Looking beyond the production line: sport is for children, not the other way around

Children are viewed through the lens of economic value for future investments – the underlying assumption here is that children are for sport.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Mayo supporters during the homecoming. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher.

Following Mayo's historic All-Ireland football victory, writer Colin Sheridan argued that the significance of the achievement "was not about sport or excellence or process. It was not about money or ambition. It was about people... It was about connection." 

His reflections on these pages serves as a useful reminder that sport has a purpose that extend well beyond the so called “production” of elite performers.